Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo #1?
The answer to last week’s mystery is inkberry holly, Ilex glabra, pictured in photo #2.
A hardy evergreen native to the eastern and southeastern United States, inkberry holly, Ilex glabra, is a familiar shrub across the Atlantic Coastal Plain. It thrives in a range of habitats but is most at home in damp or wet soils, where its glossy, narrow leaves provide reliable winter interest. Spreading naturally by stolons, inkberry often forms tidy colonies that lend themselves well to massing, hedges, windbreaks, and even rain gardens.
Its nectar-rich flowers support a wide array of pollinators—including specialist bees—and the shrub serves as a larval host for Henry’s elfin butterfly. Like other hollies, its berries are an important food resource for wildlife, though gardeners should remember that inkberry is dioecious, with separate male and female plants required for berry production.
Low-maintenance, versatile, and excellent for erosion control along streams and pond edges, inkberry holly has long been valued both ecologically and culturally. Its nectar is the source of the highly regarded “gallberry honey,” prized for its mild flavor and clarity.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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